There's a certain excitement in discovering something hidden, even if that something was only hidden from you. A new favorite restaurant, store, view, a movie. Book blogs are a relatively new phenomenon and most of the blogs I've seen concentrate on new and recent releases, or if not that then primarily well-known books, classics, or prize winners. (of course there are outliers) In an effort to highlight different books here at The Readventurer and to help me/us out of my/our current reading/blogging/reviewing slumps, I think it might be fun to explore more random reads. I know of a few features on other blogs that celebrate older books -- Retro Fridays at Angieville comes to mind first--but I don't want to just go old-school, I just want to go lesser known. So here's how Library Quest works: a person goes into a library. She walks through the shelves and picks up a book she's never heard of, not even one iota of information. She can read the back and look at the cover but that is it. No looking up book information, ratings, or reviews online. No checking Goodreads to see if anyone she knows has read it. Give the book an honest go and then report back on the book and the experience. Together, we can read and review a larger cross-section of books and uncover some hidden gems, don't you think? I can only imagine how much buried (or semi-buried, or at-least-more-buried-than-well-known-newer-releases) treasure is out there. Let's get started uncovering some!

A few notes: We'd love to have other bloggers participate in these quests so just contact us (on Twitter (@ our blog name) or email (our blog name @ gmail)) if you'd like to give it a go. And if you can't finish the book you pick out, you can still post on the experience and what it was like having no clue whether it was going to be "good" or not, and cross-post on your own blog, if you'd like to.

Quest Date:12/27/12 (I know, it took me a month to get my act together)

Location: King County Library System, Bothell Branch (Bothell, WA)

Conditions: Gloomy, in both outside temperature and mental state.

Expedition Notes: I had just finished participating as a judge in The Cybils, for which I'd read basically nothing but YA sci-fi and fantasy books for over two months. I was (and am) so excited to read a lot of adult stuff to cleanse my palate. I wandered around the audiobook and YA sections to see what was around. I picked up a book for She Made Me Do It, which we're doing with Maja (Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire)and a series book I haven't gotten a chance to read yet (The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde) After that, I was just aimlessly wandering around the library (which was pretty packed with people), taking out things when they looked interesting. After thinking up the Library Quest feature, I wandered with a purpose. I picked up a few different books I'd never heard of and then picked up my final choice, mostly because it didn't look too long and the jacket copy sounded interesting.

Value Estimation: I definitely think this is a hidden gem. As it turns out, the author who wrote this also wrote a book Catie reviewed (and really enjoyed) recently, No and Me. I didn't realize this when I picked it up, but it still qualifies for this feature as it turns out it is much less popular than that novel. (side note: I suppose even mega bestsellers would qualify, as long as the quest-goer can honestly say they haven' heard anything about them...*raises eyebrows*)

Review:If there's one thing this author knows how to do, it is capture hopelessness. I think going into this having no clue what other people thought of it or really anything about the author made for a really exciting experience for me. However, I'm going to spoil something for you. The blurb for this book made me feel a bit optimistic about what could happen:

Every day, Mathilde takes the Metro to her job at a large multinational, where she has felt miserable and isolated ever since getting on the wrong side of her bullying boss. Every day, Thibault, a paramedic, drives where his dispatcher directs him, fighting traffic to attend to disasters. For many of the people he rushes to treat, he represents the only human connection in their day. Mathilde and Thibault are just two figures being pushed and shoved in a lonesome, crowded city. But what might happen if these two souls, traveling their separate paths, could meet?

Two miserable people find each other and make a go of it, right? And live happily ever after? You sly, sly jacket copy writer. That is not what this book is about--actually, it is is one of the most depressing books I have read lately. Almost the entire book is devoted to descriptions of Mathilde being undermined and under-appreciated at work. She is a widow and can't even bring herself to spend time with her friends because they will ask her about work. Thibault, the male lead, is an equally miserable doctor who once dreamed of being a surgeon, a dream that was crushed when he lost several fingers in a bar fight. He is in a relationship with an emotionally unavailable woman and he is unhappy with his job traveling all around the city, visiting patients. The narrative alternates between Mathilde and Thibault, and while I enjoyed Mathilde's portions more, I don't think the story would be complete without Thibault's voice thrown in. The descriptions of Mathilde's work life provided for more instances of pure rage from me as a reader than perhaps any book I've ever read. If it was possible, I'd write myself into this story and I'd have no qualms about torturing her boss in tiny, obnoxious ways until he broke into a million pieces. But both narratives really evoke the loneliness so many of us feel, even when we're surrounded by people.

"Carried along by the dense, disorganised tide, he thought that the city would always impose its own rhythms, its haste, its rush hours, that it would always remain unaware of these millions of solitary journeys at whose points of intersection there is nothing. Nothing but a void, or else a spark that instantly goes out." (257)

Today, when I was driving downtown, I saw a young woman about my age who had crutches and a walking boot on her leg. It was raining, she was going very slowly up a hill, and she looked miserable. I asked if I could drive her to wherever she was going. While we went around the block to her bus stop, we figured out that her ultimate destination was on the other side of Lake Washington, right near my house, so I told her I'd take her the whole way. We chatted about our lives, our families, her injury, African safaris, and I'll never see her again. Or perhaps I will, but I'd have a hard time recollecting where I knew her from. It was just a moment, like any other moment, when I made a choice. In Underground Time, the entire book builds up to just one of those moments, and I'm confident in saying that the ending will not satisfy a majority of readers, but it satisfied me. Then again, I'm someone who quite enjoys when a book punches me in the stomach.

I wish I knew French so I could read this novel in its original language. Even so, the translation is wonderfully descript. Though not overly flowery, the book is filled with metaphors and turns of phrase just so perfectly apt that I found myself repeatedly impressed:

"So a moment must come when she'll wake up, when she'll grasp the division between reality and sleep, and realise that that is all this was: a long nightmare. When she'll experience the intense relief that follows the return to consciousness, even if her heart is still beating fit to explode, even if she is bathed in sweat in her darkened bedroom. A moment when she will be free." (211)

This was 4/5 stars for me. I think it will appeal to anyone who likes to read about the bleaker aspects of life, people who enjoy French literature, anyone who may or may not daydream about murdering their horrible boss, and people who like imagining what would happen if you stopped to talk to that person on the subway. All in all, it was the perfect first random pick for our Library Quest feature. Coincidentally, I'm very happy to note that another blogger, Keertana over at Ivy Book Bindings, also read this wonderful book recently and reviewed it. If you ask me, you should just skip my review and head over there to read hers.

Please let us know if you'd like to go questing at the library. Remember, it has to be something you know nothing about. And no cheating!

I liked No and Me a lot, I really did, but it's pretty much my limit for contemporaries, it's all I can take. This one sounds much more depressing, and although I'm convinced it's a good book, after reading Keertana's review and now yours, I know I won't read it, or ar least not anytime soon. I'm essentially a coward.

Basically, I KNOW we're all just wandering around aimlessly, which is why I always choose books that have a chance of convincing me otherwise, if only for a few minutes.
*sigh* Maybe some day.

Helloooooo! :) I love the idea of this feature. I hope you actually took a sword into the library with you, Flann. This book sounds depressing as hell -- which probably fits with my book slump mood. More library quests!

Oh I love the idea of this new feature, I love discovering hidden gems that I've never heard anything of before. No and Me was a book I'd decided to grab after reading Maja's review, I don't mind bleak reads or ones that leave you with a punch to the gut. I think I will definitely have to see if my library has this one! I'll definitely be looking forward to what other books you ladies discover! :)

Hmm, I think you might like this one, Jasprit. It's a very hard book to gauge whether someone might enjoy...let's just say that I have *high hopes* that you would. I think living in a city makes it come alive a bit more as well.

Yay, I love this feature, and what a wonderful first selection! I definitely have to be in a mood for the type of book that make me simultaneously marvel at the healing power of human relationships and despair at their destructive powers. This book is now on my list for when the mood strikes. Great review! :-)

Sometimes we just like to be sad. I mean, isn't that what movies like Steel Magnolias, Little Women, and the end of The Family Stone are for? I hope you end up reading this eventually. Just don't kick anything if it makes you too angry.

I do this all the time! (Especially with the library's ebook collection.) That's how I found one of my favorite authors, CK Kelly Martin. Somehow I'd never heard of her and fell madly, deeply in love with her books when I picked up one of hers in the e-library a couple years ago. I needed something to read, so I checked it out and stayed up until 3am finishing.

That feeling. I love staying up all night in deep thrall with a book. I had no clue that was how you found CK Kelly Martin. I guess I assumed you knew her through Twitter or something. Let us know if you want to go adventuring, Sarah:)

I love it! I hardly ever review new releases so I would love to join in on your library quest my dear. The only problem at the moment is that I have an embarrassingly large library fine on my account that I need to clear. Hmmm... will wait until after pay day. Anyway, this book sounds like a it's the right sort of head space to enjoy, but I hope I find something equally intriguing

Bahahaha, I've been there with the library fines. I'll put you down on my list of awesome people. I hope you find something equally as amazing as this one. You could even try to just pick a short random book or play like we were chatting about before and use it for this challenge.

Flann, this is an amazing review - I love it! I have to agree that I don't think any of our friends, except Catie, will really like this one, but I'm so glad I read it. I just LOVE this new feature and I salute you three ladies for your bravery. I remember those days where I used to just pick off books from library shelves, but now I compulsively check GoodReads reviews ALL THE TIME. I've experienced too much backlash from novels and reading slumps to risk any danger this year, but I can't WAIT to add a bunch of recommendations from this feature this year. (Although, really, I come onto your blog and add all the books you read anyway!(; ) Fantastic new feature, amazing review, and I'm kind of thrilled you finally posted this year. Is it sad that I stalk your blog? Actually, don't answer that... ;)

Psht, now you're just being too nice. I love finding books that I haven't heard much about on other blogs. I didn't know anyone who'd read this book when I picked it up and read it in December. I've had this draft sitting in our account since then and last night I finally had the motivation to finish it. Lo and behold, while I'm in here, Rachel comments on my Goodreads that you'd read and reviewed it that day. I was like, "Damn you, Keertana and your liking of the same books as me and your ability to write wonderful reviews!!" :) I got over it though. Now we can share the love.

It was so funny to have clicked on Keertana's blog and read a review on the book you were describing not 2 nights before! It was such an usual read and you picked this off your library quest, so what were the odds that Keertana would read and review this about the same time as you? Lol. I'm glad you incorporated your experience picking up that poor girl going to get her full cast. I'm so glad you picked her up. Very sweet of you, Flann. Wonderful review of a book I won't ever read! :) I can't take the depressing reads.

This is such a rad idea! I'd love to do this :) Also, I'm so intrigued by this book.. I thought the writing in No and Me was gorgeous (it kind of made me wish I'd kept up my French), and it sounds like that's the case in this one too. Hit me up if you want to send me on a library mission in Melbourne!

This is a fantastic idea for a feature! It's what I used to do before Goodreads! I'd just go to the library and borrow books without thinking about if anyone I knew had read it or how popular it was. I would love to do this :D

And this does sound sad, but I am starting to realise that I am an emotion-addict and even if I get a book-hangover for a week, I continue to read books that make me feel bleak. Great review!

Also, I love that you stopped to give the girl a lift - you are wonderful :)

Hahaha, I actually laughed when I got down to see which book you got and saw that it was a book I'd never heard of until less than a week ago Keertana reviewed it! One of those crazy things. This book just sounds too depressing for me...I think I'd be better off trying out No and Me, but wow on the hopelessness.

Also, I totally want to do this!! After all, this is HOW I found books for most of my life. I'd plop down on the floor in the SciFi/Fantasy isle and just go for whatever seemed promising. This is also why I have massive gaps in my reading history--I was limited by what was in a small rural library and the fact that I didn't have anyone who read similar things to suggest stuff. Anyway, I'll Tweet at ya, I'll probably look for a hidden gem next time I get library books (as you know, I'm restricting myself to 4 so it may be a few weeks).

I absolutely love the idea of this feature - sometimes the best discoveries are the ones you make on your own. That's how I discovered Kelley Armstrong (back in the day) and whenever I pick up one of her books I feel like she is "my" discovery.

It's also true that there are so many older releases out there that don't get enough attention. Even when you're interested/willing to read an older release (like I am!) it is hard when you're in the book blogging community, which is always focused on the "next big thing".

Anyhow, Underground Time sounds quite different. If I happen to stumble across it, I'll give it a whirl!

Great idea! And hey -- my library is still open until 7p, so maybe I'll have to go wander and see what I can find. I have already been out of the house twice today, but since I hadn't been out since Tuesday night before that, what's one more trip to see real people?!?

This is a fun exercise! I always have so many books on my to-read list, sometimes I think I miss out on an unexpected and random find. I definitely would like to give this library adventure a try (after all, I spend a lot of time there).